The RPS Chronicles
by card game deeler
Summary: Join Qrow as he takes on a new challenge of Galactic proportions. (A collaboration between Me and Brave Kid)
1. Chapter 1

The Emerald forest dimmed the sun light to an unamusing amount today. Qrow as he knew the place lazily eyed the surroundings mostly aloof toward his other cohorts.

The first member of his newly hired team was, or rather he has recruited was Ozpin. Ozpin, a headmaster of the nearby Beacon Academy which had trained him in his youth took charge of this strange expedition into the lesser explored parts of the ancient forest for some reason or another. It was rare for him to leave the campus but with how certain events had left the Academy as well as the surrounding town with nearly Crippled defenses seemed like an unwise time for him of all people to be taking a holiday and go hiking into some area even more grizzled huntsmen like himself rarely venture.

Beside the aged Headmaster where two separate figures. A blonde woman Named Glynda Goodwitch, a hard on everyone kind of person who lacked a sense of humor just focused on her tablet marking what could only be the amount of estimated damages the Grimm had caused in this massive attack. Across to Ozpin's left was one of the heads of the Atlas Military, General James Ironwood. If one thing could be said about him this expedition was more likely his work rather than Ozpin's. He looked him over more so. He was out of his usual formal military clothing meant for most occasions in favor of a standard Atlas armor. Granted it did not protect from much to begin with since it was easier to hit opponents at high speeds than gun them from a distance. Aura, more often than not, was the only shield you need.

He glanced to his left only to see the other Atlas official. He groaned in his head as he continued looking at Winter's cold presence. He never enjoyed working with people and Winter as well as many Atlas officials generally were high on that list.

The wind's unsettling arm combed his hair and re adjusted his coat as they continued their travels. "Alright Ozpin, Spill." He grumbled unamused at his situation. Ozpin did not even as much as gesture to show some sign to acknowledge he heard him. He continued his investigation on their situation. "Why are we out this far?"

"You are aware what happened the night of the assault on Beacon?" He asked much to Qrow's chagrin. "A powerful ancient Grimm capable of producing Grimm through the black pores that fall from its wings came from this direction.

"So, it somehow was destroyed I'd say that was a win, right?" He responded still not sure where he was going with this.

"Yes, and that is what concerns us." Ironwood voiced up as he looked back toward Qrow and his suburbanite. Qrow looked at him unamused still waiting for him to talk. "None of the ships we brought could have brought that thing down."

Qrow looked at the two of them and gave a shrug as he was waiting to hear why this is important detail to note. He was there the day Beacon was attacked having fought on the frontlines with many students drones and soldiers who at the time were enjoying the Vytal Festival at the time of the assault. He watched the creature awaken from the mountain and begin making its way toward their location.

 _ **The Vytal Festival (seventy-two hours ago.)**_

The main plaza of the town has burning soot blinded Qrow's eyes as the onslaught of Grimm and White Fang members charged at his position. He was way out numbered it would need a miracle to save them from death. Fortunately, Qrow's curse doubled as a double edge sword for such an occasion. A dust line underneath the Dust till Dawn store had sprung a leak expectantly and collided with an open electric current.

The explosion cascaded through the city's main road toppling building bottle necking the White Fang's attack options. However, movement for Qrow as well as his allies had become severely limited from the sudden discharge forcing them to traverse the hidden underground minefield set to the tune of a hair trigger.

He was about to move when a loud roar pieced the chaos that encircled the city. Above them lied a gigantic Black Dragon like Grimm. It's presence unlike anything he had ever seen.

"Hunter!" an Atlas soldier yelled looking at the creature. "We have to retreat Beacon is lost." Qrow looked at the Facilitated guard angrily as he drew his attention toward the gigantic Grimm currently flying over Beacon Academy.

He was inclined to agree and begin to try to find his two nieces and try to get them to safety. No doubt it was what Winter at the time was focusing on. After all she seemed to be here to do her old man's dirty work only.

The creature roared again as he looked up curiously at the Grimm again to see it glowing. He was not sure what it was doing. Red lighting had begun to surround it as it was charging up an unknown attack. He got ready to see what it was doing. To his shock however his vision was glued on the dragon as the red light began to connect onto the dragon forming red cybernetic like lines onto the creature. Suddenly it disappeared into a red void without any answer as to where it went.

Qrow Had to rub his eyes in disbelief at what he saw. It was either that creature could turn invisible or it had somehow been captured by some unknown force. His mind was in so much of a confused state he failed to notice a pulsing red light come cratering toward the Emerald Forrest. He found out about it later that night.

 _ **Normal time.**_

"So, we're trying to track down that red pulse, right?" Qrow moaned with annoyance this was too much of a hassle to him.

"If you are not wanting to we can always just leave you." Winter suggested as she kept her eyes forward.

"Fine let's just get this over with." Qrow grumbled miserably as he kept his head forward scanning the brush for signs of Grimm.

Most of the trip side from Qrow's underwhelming conversation starter was uneventful. Qrow could tell by Ozpin's body movement he was not liking it all too much. The reason for the concern stemmed from the lack of Grimm at all especially this deep into the forest, normally they would have had an incursion with a few Beowolves at best by this point. They have not even heard a bird call for nearly an hour. The forest for an area as dense and less traveled was extremely quiet.

In the distance, an opening to a small grotto began to pierce light onto the derelict path. Qrow shielded his eyes from the sun's rays as they entered the area. It was a natural area with fewer trees. Arguably a good area for a group to defend themselves from an attack should be needed. Someone was already in the small opening in the woods when they arrived a blonde-haired man around Qrow and Winter's age. His Blonde hair was well kept as well as his road warrior looking get up with his armored shoulder pads and leather breast guard. As well as a pair of brown cargo shorts. Qrow could tell it was TaiYang, Yang and Ruby's father. He rolled his eyes a little after seeing who it was "(course they brought him in." He kept thinking as Ozpin approached the veteran huntsmen.

"Taiyang. Any updates regarding whatever it was?" Ozpin asked as the other began to establish a perimeter.

Taiyang shook his head. "I have no idea what is going on. I saw signs of impact but it was like it just decided to get up and walk away." The others turned to look at him for a second. "It gets weirder, Grimm presence has been dropping quickly for no reason." Qrow and Ozpin saw the look in TaiYang's eyes it was a form of concern. True while Grimm where the enemy they don't just get up and walk away. "Ozpin whatever is doing this cannot be on our side."

Ozpin nodded in agreement. He seemed aware of this He took a long gaze toward the other end of the small grotto. "We should wait till night fall the light will be easier to spot then."

Ironwood nodded as he began to open his scroll to finish some of the work that by now has piled up to a very unfavorable amount. He kept his eyes focused on the screen without as much as a word spoken.

Goodwitch noticed the way he and Winter have been acting the entire time. Shortly after the attack was repelled from Beacon they had to answer how all of this had happened under their watch. She was wagering to herself that they were putting blame onto Ozpin for insisting that they kept the security detail to a minimum to strengthen the idea of a time of coming closer together as the Vytal festival always has been. That said Ironwood was smart for bringing the troops since they were clearly outnumbered the day of the invasion. She was also certain that Ozpin's ability to teach was currently on the chopping block in Vale since he had done little to stop the White Fang from attacking.

Most of the day went by uneventfully, Qrow began to get a little unease since they had not one encounter with Grimm since the entered the old growth of the forest. This area was generally a sees pit for such creatures. He stood up agitated getting everyone's attention "Alright something is wrong." He voices while tired clearly was having bits of his sixth sense showing. "We have not seen a single Grimm since reaching this part of the woods."

Winter looked at him ore annoyed than in agreement. "So, what more ammo for a real fight then."

Qrow glared angrily at her. "You don't find this the single bit odd?" Winter nodded showing little of the problem. Ozpin however looked at the two of them with much needed agreement.

Rustling in the bushes caught the entire party's attention. Winter glanced back at Qrow with a stern look on her face. "Well it looks like we found your Grimm Qrow." She scoffed as she drew her rapier from its holster.

A red flare came flying from the brush as it made contact with the ground just a few feet away from Winter and Qrow's position. Followed by a red dust arrow flying right past Ozpin crashing into a rock instantly turning it to ash. The group turned back toward the area where the two projectiles where launched. A heavy smoke was formed right where the projectiles emerged from.

Standing in the smoke stood four shadowy outlines. Two females and two males based on the sizes of their outlines. Qrow began to recognize two of the shadows. One of the shadows he recognized had a Bowler hat while holding a cane. Most of his body was encased inside a trapezoid like shape suggesting a long trench coat. Part of his face began to show more detail as his cigar lite up a bit of his face showing traces of his red hair.

The other figure is too hard to forget. After all who could forget the girl that defeated the Fall maiden. If he recalled correct her name was Cinder. It was confirmable from the Tattoo that extended from her arm toward her back. The red tattoo was glowing with the force of the fall maiden. Ozpin failed to mention that she succeeded at killing the Fall Maiden. She must had retreated once the Dragon Grimm was mysteriously destroyed.

"So." The bowler hat man spoke. "I'm guessing they are here for the same reason?" He asked looking at Cinder's outline. She seems to give a slight nod to his direction. He let out a sigh as he pointed his cane again in their direction. "I'm guessing we all know where this is going." He spoke unenthusiastic about this job.

"Roman Torchwick." Ironwood's voice had anger in his voice. "You are under arrest for acts of terrorism." He demanded angrily toward the man. "Come quietly and we will let you"

Roman's unarmed hand went to massage his forehead. "Again, with the self-righteous banter. I swear it must be required at this point." He began to point his cane directly at the group. "Tell you what? Let's just skip to the point where we have our weapons drawn. Oh wait, I'm ahead of the game." He opened fire at the group scattering them into the woods.

Cinder looked at Roman. "You go after the blondes." She ordered Roman as she redirected to the other two figures. "Mercury chase down the general." The male figure just walked off toward where Ironwood was thrown. "Emerald Get the two-hired help."

The female figure looked at her. "What about you."

Cinder turned her attention into the direction of Ozpin's disappearance. "I have a score to settle." She began to glare at the woods She continued to walk off through the grotto that was now engulfed in flames.

 _ **Somewhere in the woods.**_

The explosion sent Qrow and Winter careering down a steep hill side pushing them deeper in to the wooded area. Qrow tumbled with no chance of stopping. Eventually he felt weightless as the ground was pulled from underneath him. He looked to see that he had rolled off a cliff side. He took this moment to observe his free-falling world to spot Winter in the same situation though it looked as if she was knocked unconscious.

"Common wake up." He yelled only to his dismay of not getting a single response. Quick on his feet he pulled his weapon, a scythe with an elastic rope like blade. He hurled it with what strength he could muster lassoing Winter and pulling her closer to him. He held onto her as he felt a hard impact as if he came into a hard contact with a set of shingles. Sure, enough his vision went dark.

Winter began to stir as Qrow looked up at the hole. It looked as though they uncovered an abandoned log cabin. Winter stood up looking where she would have fell. If the trajectory was correct she would have landed on the jagged remains of a bed. She closed her eyes as she turned toward Qrow "Guess I should be grateful." While she meant it, she was clearly annoyed about admitting it.

Qrow got up without saying much as he turned to see that the Cabin had to be around… Nothing but woods big shocker. He leaned against the table he missed by mere inches Letting his aura heal himself. He thought for a moment that he could rest when he heard Winter let loose a powerful red dust based blast toward what he guesses was the kitchen catching the place on fire.

He turned to see that she was staring at the fire with a look of fear. To his confusion there is no reason as to why she would do either of those actions. She then pointed her rapier at Qrow. "Whoa this is the thanks I get?" He asked looking at her confused.

"You won't get away for killing Qrow." She said coldly toward Qrow making him confused.

"Um, I'm right here." He said confused looking at her.

Winter looked at Qrow confused. "Your alive?" She asked still in a state of panic.

"Yeah Obviously."

"But the Deathstalker."

Qrow gave her a look of confusion "We're the only ones here. Why would a" His train of thought was cut off by Winter suddenly falling to the ground as a Ursa toward behind her. Qrow thought quick on his feet attempting to attack the creator to have it fade in a blink of an eye. "What?" His memory went back to the second and final day of the Vytal festival. Pacifically to two fights Yang vs that gray haired student and the prodigy vs the Atlas drone, Penny. He grinned a little. "Now I get it." Winter looked at him confused. "So, this is how you instilled fear at the festival." He turned around to see a dark skinned green haired woman looking at them smiling.

"Your quicker than I thought." She complimented as she pulled two small scythes from her back holster. "To bad it won't help you." Suddenly Qrow's perception went black as if the world ceased to exist.

He could tell it was another illusion but he was close to useless in this situation. He felt his Perception of the world was around him. It seemed she simply plunged him into darkness. He heard her laugh as he was struck square in his gut. Luckily it seemed she was not aware of what his Semblance was since she lost her balance as well as her concentration when a heavy thud came from the ground.

All Qrow saw once he regained his eyesight was Winter's feet as she was facing the green haired assailant. She had the same cold look that must be required to be a Schnee family member. He should thankful it was not facing him. He took a standard practice pose as the woman looked at them. All the group was oblivious to red lights glowing outside the cabin.

Qrow dashed in at the assailant first missing her by several inches as she countered with a strike from her twin daggers. His aura took the whole blow as Winter blasted the floor with ice dust freezing the floor of the building they were in. The attacker was losing her balance as Qrow's bladed whip tripped her as she tried to dodge a heavy thrust from Winter who collided with the wall breaking clean through it.

Beyond the wall was a bunch of red firefly like creatures that began to spew into the room. Qrow looked at it for a minute before ignoring it thinking it was another illusion. He took his stance again as the woman in front of him looked at the lights almost if in a trance. Her face turned to one of complete fear as the room for several seconds shined a bright red. Qrow turned around confused to see that Winter was nowhere in sight.

"HEEELLLP!" The girl yelled in fear as Qrow turned to face her. Fear now the primary looks across her face looking down at the swarming red lights that now had engulfed the lower half of her. Within seconds she was fully devoured by the red lights as she suddenly disappeared in front of him.

Qrow began to step away from the machines as they noticed his presence in the room. The mass horde began to surround him Qrow bean to fight back to no avail. The lights just kept getting bigger engulfing him before he felt as if he was being converted into a form of energy as he saw the room around him disappear.


	2. A Rude Awakening

Qrow woke up as if he suffered a hangover. Not exactly a new occurrence for him but the first time he felt stiff from a Hangover. He went to raise his head only to irately feel a blunt pain crash into his head.

"What the…" He grumbled looking above him to see what he hit. It seemed to be a see-through substance though full of hexagons as if it was a dome like structure. He banged on it ignoring the gloves that had somehow got onto his hands. He could worry about that once he got to out of this mess. He pounded on the dome's inside a few times looking around at his coffin like capsule. Outside of the dome he could hear a few people talking unfortunately he couldn't make out what they were saying.

The first voice that spoke seemed to be easily concerned from the sounds of it one of the people talking was a shrill voiced person. It felt as though it was a general insult to the mad scientist archetype. He could hear him scream at the top of his lungs when angered but quickly calm himself. The other voice that could be heard seemed to be calm and rather collect by comparison he never once raised his voice from what he heard. The two continued to talk for several minutes on end before a red light laminated the room. It disappeared quickly as well as the trotting of feet leaving the room.

Qrow laid back in his cell confused as to what was going on. He remembered the capturing of Winter by the strange red lights as well as the strange illusionists they encountered inside the abandoned hut but so far it seemed he had stepped off the set from one horror set into the next.

He heard something open before more heavy thuds came through the room. Qrow had to fake being asleep not sure what would happen if they caught him while awake. He felt his container shift in direction as he was hoisted into the air by whatever was carrying him. A new voice could be heard from outside the cage this one however was low keyed and bordered on the side of dumb brute in nature. He could make out what they were saying since he was talking to another one.

"Remind me where are we taking them?" a deep voice asked. The manner it asked suggested that he was not to bright.

"Launch bay." Was all the other one said. Just as slow as the other one.

Qrow took a bet and opened his eyes only to have them theoretically bulge out of his eyes. On the other side of the dome lugging his container was a large blue amphibious looking creature with multiple eyes stemming from the top of it' head. Multiple sharp teeth layered its bottom jaw and it seemed to have a lot of muscle mass on him. The other one that was with him was green and Slightly robotic in movement. The two lugged him to a giant metal door that looked as though it was riveted heavily Qrow could tell from the lights above it was a

"(I need to get out of here)" was All Qrow could respond with when looking at the creatures in front of him. He was not sure how to take care of these big hulking creatures but he knew that they were bound to have little brains in that head of theirs. The doors to the elevator opened, a good opening he needed. Qrow with all his might kicked the top of his container open bashing into one of the big green oafs. It dropped the container as it took a few steps back grimacing in pain. The other one turned and looked at Qrow for a good minute before it's brain realized what had happened.

"Get small pet." It gargled a little as he lifted the capsule he was in to bash him with it. Qrow jumped out of the way diving into the elevator as the device it had landed on its partner plowing him into the ground. The doors slammed quickly on him as he heard the powerful thud of the machine on the other side.

"To close for comfort." He grumbled to himself as he pushed a random button on the elevators control panel at random. He felt himself get heavy as it went up the structure he was in. "Where am I?" he asked again as he looked at the inside of this place.

His mind was distracted with that question until an alert went out. "Attention Arc staff. Today's rations have been cut in half until subject eight two four is detained. Thank you and work longer." The voice while robotic was female. She seemed to have a cheery outlook but in his experience, it was probably another façade.

"Guess that makes me the subject." He gloated to himself as he leaned against the lower rail in the elevator. He was not sure what to expect but he may need to be ready for what was around the corner or in this case on the other side of this door. He felt himself become lighter as the elevator slowed down.

"Floor one hundred and fifty-seven." And intercom spoke up catching Qrow yet again. "Service labs, storage, and gift shop." He did a double take as he heard the last one questioning this place need for a gift shop of all things.

He slowly went through the hallways keeping a careful eye on his surroundings. He could hear voices in the distance as he dived for cover accidently toppling over a handful of wooden crates. For his sake one with a lid missing landed on him lid side down.

"What was that?" A heavy voice spoke up as two heavy metallic footsteps pounded there way toward Qrow's position. He laid completely still under the crate as he saw the heavy metallic foot land right next to the crate one of the hydraulics in clean sight to him. A second one came from behind.

"It was probably one of those Tyhrranoid. They are dumber than Quark two thirds of the time." The other voice said. This one sounded more electronic. Qrow looked through some of the cracks in the wood crack. The thing he saw was a giant robot that was way taller than him. It looked heavily armored with claws for hands. Its head looked like a cyclops if it had a visor. The second one looked the same way though in comparison he was less armored. "So, what was this about a secret agent?" it continued talking to the other one.

"Oh right." The other one spoke up as the two began walking past the mess Qrow was hiding in. "A wannabe ranger was caught at one of Nefarious' hideouts."

"How did he get past bosses defenses?"

"Apparently he hides inside a wooden crate." The guard turned his head looking in disbelief at this thought that an advance security system would be outwitted by a box.

"You can't be serious." The other guard nodded as they continued their walk down the corridor.

Qrow at the time was doing nothing but laughing under his breath of the irony of the situation. He slipped out of the box and continued to explore the strange location. He still had a very narrow idea of what was going on. The metallic feel was not a comforting experience seeing it as a sign he was in somewhere militaristic base or worse, another Atlas training seminar.

He kept moving through the corridor not sure where he was. He needed a map of some form of geological coordinates. That way he could report this to Ozpin as well as other officials. If he were to take a guess this was far from Salem, a wanted master villain's doing. She was known for the reliance of Grimm but there was none around. Odds are this was a new contender that had technology capable of rivaling the military powerhouse of Atlas though they lacked the sophistication of the Beacon Academy.

A new intercom alert went off. "Attention employees, be prepared for the transfer of experiment eight nine six fourteen." Qrow looked at the intercom curiously.

"What room?" He yelled curiously.

"Room fifteen. Down the hall and to your left." Its response made Qrow freeze up for second in compete confusion.

"(it heard me?)" was all he could muster as he turned on down the hallway to find this room.

Ten minutes of walking passed when he found the entrance to the testing labs. He was certain that whatever is going on his answers would be in there. Unfortunately, two of the big frog like brutes were in front of the door. No real way in. "(Think Qrow,) He ordered to himself looking left and right for possible entrance. Above the lab door looked as though there was a lab vent. It went over their heads and seemed to enter a broom closet.

He looked at the old room's selves when he entered it was a cramped and smelly place. The room must rarely be used meaning they may tend to forget this room exists. He slowly began to examine the old broom closet.

It was not much of a sight. The cramped room held a lot of bottles to which he guessed were cleaning material. He could not read the labels since it was in a very strange language though he could tell it was some form of alphabet. The corner had probably the most high-tech mop he had ever seen. Even when it was caked in dust it was clean at the bottom of the device. He considered grabbing it though he figured it would be a hindrance rather than a help. He continued to scan the shelves until finding a ventilation cover on the top shelf.

"(Bingo)" He concluded with a bit of a grin. He began to climb the rickety shelf with the upmost haste. Causing a lot of noise was going to cause trouble and he had to hurry before they wise up to the idea of digging around in the janitor's space.

He heard two voices outside he could tell they may have been robotic since they seemed more intelligent than the oaths that were hauling his container.

"Did you hear that?" One of the voice's asked.

"Hear what?" He asked uncaringly. Qrow however was completely frozen in fear.

"That rattling."

"The rattling coming from the closet behind us?" There was a pause for a short amount of time. "Nope."

"But it could be the… "he was cut off before finishing the thought.

"I ain't paid enough to have my servos bombarded with foul odor. So as far as I'm aware, I HEAR NUTHING!" He yelled the last part as the two continued along the hallway.

Qrow looked at the door confused. He took a quick whiff of the room before he almost threw up. Those robots were right these fish things knew not how to clean up. He held his vomit in his mouth as he slowly continued to climb the smelly death trap. He pulled the vent off its hinges luckily it was not bolted in place.

Climbing in the vents was surprisingly more manageable than he thought. Though it was slightly chilly in the vents. These creatures seemed to not notice the cold air surrounding them. He figured they were used to it or yet again too stupid to think much of it. It seemed stupidity was a common trait amongst these things with the robots being slightly ahead by a single inch. He continued his haul try crawl through the vents of the base until reaching the corridor the lab was in. He looked down to see if the coast was clear of being spotted. To his lack of surprise, the two grunts had fallen asleep. He slowly crawled through his newly discovered path entering the laboratory.

"Made it." He grumbled to himself as he looked at the surrounding vent doors. Curious to see what he was dealing with he placed his head against the first vent on the right. The room looked much like his though unlike his it seemed that this was a pure operation chamber not just a recovery ward like his. The pod unlike his had a stormy mess of blue and neon green inside the pod.

Cautiously Qrow entered the room. He landed on his feet and hands to reduce noise and then looked around for a weapon should he need it. He searched for three minutes before settling on a strange looking pipe wrench that was laying on the. It may not be his scythe whip he loved but this was just as good an option for the moment. He slowly crept up to the glowing capsule cautiously watching it for sudden movements. He suddenly heard a scream from inside the machine causing him to freeze up unstoppably. He eventually remained control of his petrified body after what felt like an hour but with how intense his situation he was in. He was not sure what waited him but he knew it would not be pretty.

Amongst the colored haze Qrow could make out a female figure. It looked familiar to him for some reason. He continued to study the body noticing the extremely long white hair that span her back and side. The person in this cage was winter.

"LAWRENCE!" a loud voice over the speaker yelled piercing Qrow's ears. He looked toward the intercom. "Is the prisoner ready yet?" He seemed to be impatient.

"Indubitably sir, Might I add I love this quarter witted idea." A more British voice responded it could be safe to assume that the voice speaking was Lawrence.

"Good. Begin the splicing."

"Right away."

The room began to darken as Qrow looked at the capsule. A monitor booted up showing a progress bar that was filling up slowly. He looked at Winter in horror as he saw what they this facility was doing. Winter was changing slowly but surely. Her size was shrinking as the chamber she was in adjusted to her new size. White fur continued to grow over her body Qrow looked in almost distress he may have had his grudge but she was still an ally.

The next bit was uncomfortable to watch. Winter screamed in pain as a new limb began to form on her backside. He ignored it eventually however when he saw her ears begin to elongate. She looked almost animalistic now.

Qrow gritted his teeth as he continuously slammed the strange device against the tubing to save Winter from whatever they were going to her. This however did not go un noticed.

"Who's that?" The shrill voice yelled on the intercom.

"I believe it is the original experiment sir. I warned you that hypnotizing could be broken if you did it before splicing." Lawrence spoke calmly in the background of the audio.

"Never mind that! Release the new one!"

"Right away sir." The lights in the area began to turn a dark red. Qrow looked around as the tube opened. Qrow fell on his back as the machine's door opened. His eyes widened as he saw that the same thing that happened to Winter was also done to him.

Winter stood up and looked around the room curiously as she noticed the device Qrow was using to break the device open. She jumped down grabbing it and looking at Qrow through her cold eyes.

Qrow looked at her as he scrambled to his feet. "Guess You should be thanking me." Winter remained ominously quiet Qrow rolled his eyes at her actions. "Stoic as usual I see." Let's get out of here." Winter nodded at the suggestion. Qrow began to leave while looking at his fur covered arms. His fur was the same color as his hair, Black though beginning to gray in some areas most notably at his counts and what he could guess was the around the areas a dog would show its age. Before he could ask anything, a sharp blow came to the back of his head. He felt it turning around only to see the newly transformed Winter holding what looked to be a metal pipe. "Of course, you were." He said before he lost consciousness again.

Over the monitor the shrill man's voice began to speak up. "well that was close. Lawrence, Take him to re-education." There was no response "LAWRENE!" He yelled again confused at the lack of a response.

"He left sir." A meekly plain voice answered. The figure turned around his alien like body toward over the tiny bulb shaped robot. "His band had a tour you signed his temporally release form."

"And who are you?!" The towering figure demanded an answer.

"It's Dave sir."

The figure froze for a second a spark came from his cranium. "I see." He looked at the monitor. "I don't think this will hinder my plans. Dave get legal spacing and some advertising done."

"What for sir?" Dave asked cautiously.

"For the service, of course."

Dave looked at the monitor confused. His eyes lit up in shock when he saw the figure's plans. "Right away sir." Scrambling off towards the offices a few floors below.

The figure sat back down in his chair satisfied with his results. "Soon the Galactic Rangers will be no more than the universe can once and for all fear the Evil DR. Doctor Nefarious." He yelled ecstatically as his voice echoed in his chamber and accidently through the intercom causing the entire station to look up confused at the machine.


	3. Dire Times

The Aphileon's engine hummed with heavy signs of distress. It's crew, Ratchet a Lombaxian galactic ranger sat silently watching a holodeck news cast bored waiting for their arrival to their destination. The famous Station Q9 well known for the movie Annihilation Nation. He nearly closed his eyes when the ship took a sudden jerk to the left spiraling past a rouge asteroid. He caught his grip on his chair as he tilted his to his co-pilot a tiny robot that he meant during a freak crash landing. Clank as he began calling him do to the circumstance that they meant each other was holding onto the pilot wheel while using what looked to be a set of metallic rods to fit onto the bottom of his feet.

"Clank." Ratchet spoke up now firmly applying his seats safety fields.

Clank's eyes however were too firmly focused on the space ways that the ship was needing to navigate.

"Um, Clank." Ratchet spoke up for a second time hoping to catch his attention.

"Ratchet you are aware it is not recommended to keep full concentration firmly on the space ways during the events of a rouge asteroid storm." His voice calm though slightly enthusiastic about trying to get to the distressed space station. It was a little ironic to a lot of people how the two's natures had changed so drastically ever since a new mercenary company of sorts had been taking their jobs. Normally Ranger work was free often getting their living from side jobs or in Quark and the other ranger's case publicity and contract deals.

"I'm aware but we don't have much to worry about there is no way that these folks made a deal with this group they are completely" Ratchet looked out the window in complete shock to see the remains of several thugs-4-less ships left in total ruin floating around the "ravaged" Space Station.

Clank looked at Ratchet unamused yet again his sense for urgency though ignored had been right. "Pff." Ratchet quickly responded carelessly "They could easily be taken care of by outside defenses." The two both knew the other one was not buying into the lie. "Just land." He quickly responded before Clank could speak up.

"Affirmative." Clank responded slightly distrustful of their odds of a still ongoing attack.

Landing on the Q9 station proved to make their thoughts yet again distrusting of the situation. Having to pay the standard fair which they charged to the ranger tab they disembarked to see if there was still a good reason to have shown up.

The station's staff payed them no mind confirming the code red alert they sent to the rangers was either a hoax or they got other help. Ratchet sighed in disappointment as he turned toward Clank. "It appears that our services are not needed here." Clank stated bluntly as he continued to follow Ratchet curious on what they would find.

Eventually Ratchet found a none busy employee who was on break. A heavy set Hoolefoid that seemed to be watching process of the water cooling thermalators. "Um, excuse me" Ratchet spoke up. Cautiously remembering some of the more negative encounters with the race. The heavy blue scaled alien looked at him his size surprisingly large even for his race.

Ratchet took a step back cautiously realizing what was going on. The Hooleefoid grinned staticky. "JOOOYYYY!" It screamed shockingly. As it grabbed the two rangers excited at their appearance.

Ratchet panicked as he tried to break from its grip. However, this worker was clearly the superior grappler in this situation. He was certain that he heard Clank's arms dent from the grab, but he was not certain. "I'm glad to be here to." The wombat wheezed out as he managed to get his arm free from the alien's grip. Gasping for air as he hit the floor on his hands and knees. "You guys called saying the station was in danger." He responded looking at Clank who was clearly running an internal system diagnostic on himself.

The Hoolefoid looked at the duo confused as it reached for its internetwork communicator. "Hey boss."

"What Glarous." A dull female voice exited out of the machine. She sounded almost uninterested in whatever was needed at the moment.

"Did we call for the ranger's help?" Glarous asked as he looked at the duo.

"Sending records now please give them to the rangers."

Just then a floating screen flew from down the corridor showing the monitor toward the three of them. The feed was from a few days ago at a bored meeting for the platform.

One of the individuals covered by the dark back ground stood up. "The rangers are always overbooked." He stated displeased with the current raider problem. "It is apparent that the only logical conclusion for this situation is to look for other help."

"Indeed, Quark has proved that the leadership of the galactic rangers has been less than stellar." Another shadowed individual spoke up. "Perhaps if he were to do his job than push it off on the lombax they could keep up during crime sprees." Ratchet looked away as the brutal critique of the trustees hit his ears. Not like they were wrong really.

The monitor continued it's broadcast as it swapped its angle to another chairman. "Then might I suggest this mercenary group?" He asked as he sent a virtual file to the other chairmen.

"RPS." The leader pondered as he read the file. "It appears we will be getting three for the time of one." His voice reflected positive benevolence as he reviewed the information. The screen shutters off and proceeded to dash off down the hallway as Ratchet looked at Clank.

"Oh Dear." Was the only word muttered by Clank. The two already knew the answer to what had happened. RPS had beat them again.

 **Two days later**

Quark had asked for Ratchet and Clank's attention in the emergency room. It has been a bad rough patch with this situation. Many Rangers have left the organization leaving it Quark's personally selected trainees (fan-club) and Ratchet and his unit of himself and Clank.

"Thank you for coming." Quark started his speech before looking in the situation room to ensure it was a matter taken to the upmost seriousness. It became dire as he dimmed the lights to prove his point much to Ratchet's annoyance. He tended to do these meeting more frequently ever since the fan club joined more to prove that he still is number one in the galaxy. "We are here to discuss the decline of the Galactic Rangers."

"Indeed, it seems that we are in dire trouble." Ratchet confirmed examining the reports that the rangers had supplied them with. "Whoever these Remnant protection services are. They may make us none needed."

"Your conclusion is not likely." Clank responded. "We will still be needed for those who cannot afford RPS's services." He stated looking at the files including their asking prices.

"fifteen hundred an hour?" Quark angrily responded as he looked at the prices as well. "That's half of what I charge for holocron interviews." Ratchet nodded annoyed that was all he could think about. "Who are these freaks?"

Ratchet shrugged as he got up. "As dire as this situation is The Aphileon's in need of a tune up." He began to walk away when the door shut on him causing him to jump back. "What?" he turned back to the group Clank's optics were reflecting what looked to be a video feed of sorts.

"Oh dear, you may want to see this." Clank spoke up as Quark was busy groveling for pity of his fanbase… again.

"If it is that Pixelizar again we are not interested." He annoyingly declared as he approached Clank to watch the footage.

The screen showed a section of space as a generic epic voice began to speak up. "Are you troubled by criminals in the midst of space?" Ratchet looked back at Clank confused as to why it sounded so awkward. The monitor's image changed again as a dramatic female voice played over this time. "Do you experience muggings in alleys or clubs?" The image changed again this time showing the Galactic rangers "Have your friends discovered that the rangers were too late?"

"Hey! That last one is not true." Ratchet yelled out angrily at the statement.

"Pick up the phones and call the anti-thugs-4-less professionals. Remnant Protection Services." The image flashed toward what looked like a last generation heavy transporter ship with RPS painted onto it's cover. "That's right Remnant Protection Services. Our skills include the heavy training of special Ranger forces out for hire. Serving justice, protecting the weak for a fair price." The camera shifted to the two figures fighting in what seemed to be a training room.

The Galactic Rangers could not believe what they were looking at Ratchet especially. On the monitor was two Lombaxes. One of them was smooth black hair mixed with small gray patches if the group were to guess he was older by Ratchet by some extent. The other Lombax was pure white in appearance and seemed to be acting in a form of militaristic elegance during his training. She stopped half way through a firing range to look at the camera. "We are RPS and we are ready to defend you." She grinned almost cornily to end this advertisement.

All the ranger turned toward Ratchet confused as to how they could respond to this. "Oh boy." Ratchet spoke up his voice slightly uneased seeing more of himself here in the universe.


	4. A New Breed of Service

Many of the Galactic Rangers (or what was left of them) were in disbelief when RPS was revealed to be ran by Lombaxes a race that many have believed to have been banished years before. Ratchet himself went to investigate this shocking discovery carrying Clank and Quark in tow.

It took a week of tracking to find their main headquarters. RPS decided according to their records it was more practical to purchase a mining sized space station and then got modified by the minions for hire contractor's division from the nearby planet, Aridia. The day that they were allowing tours of their so-called faculties was the day the heads, Rowq and Twiner decided that they would be best for public relations.

Clank's scans on entry were rather simplistic based on everything it read. It was a basic low-level mining rig that was often towed to new mining operations once a new asteroid cluster was discovered. They were about the size of a large asteroid but no where near as big as space station colonies. It still had mining equipment as well as the refinement equipment on board, but they seem to have been retrofitted as a combat arena and excess storage facility. Was not actually a bad set up by Ratchet's dismissal. Though Quark was very much opposed to that thought.

"And now we bring you to the main offices ran by countless service drones continuous waiting on stand by for your collective membership." The tour guide spoke up extremely enthusiastic about the way their faculty was ran. "It is this room that ensures that are crack commando unit heads are dispatched whenever you are in need. For a moderately priced fee of course."

Ratchet stopped paying mind to the tour guide as he began to read the pricing of the memberships. "Simple services: includes, low listing priority, common to moderate level thugs, Heavy damages." His eyebrow raised up a little at the last one. "Why would destruction matter on getting a job done?" Clank peaked to the side of the services brochure interested in what was the company's rates.

"What a joke." Quark grumbled to himself looking at some of the technology in the building. A lot of it was clearly top of the line equipment that Rangers would have to put their own salary toward just to own it. "How can a company get away with this? There is no capital in this kind of work."

"It's called putting your back into it." A crass voice came from behind the group. "Helps when you actually give a darn about what you do." The tour group turned around to see a black hair Lombax with white fur showing at the end of his ears and slightly scarred tail. He did not exactly strike everyone as very welcoming most likely due to his to the point attitude.

"Please forgive him." A secondary voice surrounded by several hire droids walked in. "What he has in defiantly he lacks in charisma." A more ordered Lombax with complete white fur walked in she almost seemed to have a militaristic air about her presence as she spoke. Her glance turned to a glare as she passed him and then went to an almost unreadable poker face "Welcome to RPS headquarters." She eyed the audience "I see we have a few celebrities amongst us." She stated clearly directing toward Ratchet and Quark.

The crowd turned toward them in shock seeing them present in the tour. The trio were caught off guard as could be told by Ratchet and Clanks expressions. Quark however looked confused but through sheer force of personality tried to make better.

"Of course, we are here." He firmly announced seemingly trying to make it appears he was some form of celebrity endorsement. "Why wouldn't we welcome the new heroes on the block?"

"Well that's good to hear from the hasbin." The black haired Lombax finally spoke up. "Figured you were here to see if we are a threat to your revenue." Quark glared at the individual as he spoke with a half-crooked smirk on his face. His head turned toward Ratchet and Clank. "As for these two, well I'm guessing you just dragged them along to make less of a fool of yourself."

"Ridiculous claims." The Galactic hero voiced out as he put his hand on the Ranger's real mvp. "Young Ratchet was the one concerned about this."

Ratchet looked at the leader of the rangers mildly annoyed. "While that is not true I was surprised to see more of my kind around here." He admitted catching the two Lombaxes of guard. "I was curious as to where you are from, I was thinking I was the only one left."

"Now that's heartening." The cynical Lombax spoke surprisingly real and lacked a single ounce of sarcasm within his tone. "Well rest assure kid, You're not alone." He began to walk away. "Yo, tour guide." He spoke up as he was heading to one of the hallways. "How about we give these folks a real show. It's time for me and my partner to train a bit. Bet it'll boost the ratings."

"Really now, Qrow you've hardly changed." The white Lombax spoke up annoyed.

"It's just and exhibition match Winter, we'll view as a way to encourage the call of our services." He lifted his hands behind his back as he made his way to the training chamber.

The tour guide seemed shocked at the request. "I don't know what that means but we seem to be in luck everyone. Follow me to the viewing deck." She declared looking confused at the sudden request from the often-cynical employer.

In the hallway Qrow walked toward the training chamber sighing heavily. "Figures that the person who did this to us has it out against some kid." He closed his eyes recalling during the time frame his reeducation was happening.

 **Several months ago**

"Dave!" Nefarious yelled in anger "Why can't you reconfigure him?" his tone still shrills in Qrow's mind. It seemed that the reason for his reconfigure his mind was from an almost supernatural force protecting whatever remains of his original being. If he were to guess he was betting His Aura to cause unnatural bad luck has been significantly weakened from the whatever they put him through resulting in him retaining his memories and personality.

"I don't know sir." Dave was whimpering to the side of the lab. "I tried the Conditiatron, Hypnowyrms, even track C of the in your head album by Three Heads In. None of it works. The moment he is Conditioned, he is back to himself in five minutes." Dave was terrified of whatever was protecting him.

"Bah he must have built up resistance to pop jazz." The Doctor yelled in annoyance. "I'll need to find a new boy band to alter the flow of my income."

"Sir I think he may just be naturally strong willed." Dave replied reading his latest failures results. "Maybe if we were to just simply hold him and the other subject at gun point he may obey our rules."

Nefarious seemed to deep into his thoughts to hear the thought as he slowly tried to run schematics for a new kind of hypnotic device. He growled angrily when he saw that it would take too long to fully build a new one. "I don't have the time frame." He muttered loudly to himself while his claws chipped the paint on his recently painted body. "Maybe if I were to hold him at gun point. No, he looks like the type with a death wish. But his friend." He began to grin as he turned to look at his intern. "DDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAVVVVEEEEE! Prepare the two for surgery."

"Right away sir." Dave replied running straight to the chamber that their subjects had been cooped up in.

 **3 hours later….**

Qrow woke to find himself yet again strapped to a table. At this rate he was feeling like a secret agent in the spy films his niece got into when she was a just a kid with grangers of being some hero.

"Hello specimen." The familiar voice came in from behind his new confinements. Qrow tried tilting his head to see the individual that has so far sent him on a ride through what could best be called hell. He watched the hunched mechanical frame of his capture stroll in front of his visage giving an imposing stature standing a good foot taller than himself. "This is a simple order you will work for me or I kill her." He tilted the table in the direction of furry lemur like creature, the same type of Qrow had been shifted into.

Qrow's glare shifted between who he guessed was Winter now shifted into this verminous form. He curled his insides as he hucked a load of saliva at the robot in front of him. It cackled a little as he wiped the loogie off his metallic frame. "Perhaps a slide show will best show your situation. A monitor approached again in a way Qrow could only describe as from one of those many spy films his niece was entertained by. The slide flickered on showing the title "Nefarious' Evil Revenge Plot of DOOOM!" Spelt also like a generic spy film billing.

The first slide present was what could only be described a propaganda-based character of who Qrow could guess was the primary target of his already melodramatic plan. "This young pest is known as Ratchet, an annoying do-good-well that has foiled my plans one times to many."

"You do realize the reason for this is you completely undermine him, right?" Qrow quipped in as The Individual he concluded to be Nefarious. Stopped in place to look at him. "I've seen this kind of plot one too many times."

"If only the brain washing worked but something has made you overly resistant to my current techniques." He grumbled quickly fast-forwarding most of his presentation seeing as his captive was a big cynic.

"It's either my bad luck or the amount of alcohol and I'm leaning toward the prior." Qrow joked as an advertisement appeared in front of him. "Let me guess the organization the poor sought works for?"

Nefarious looked at him even more confused as to how on earth he knows that bit of information. He slowly tilted his head to see that Ratchet was near the center before the Galactic Ranger's poster child Qwark seemed to get the most attention. "How observant." He grumbled fast forwarding again. This time to a series of random letters thinking he would finally be able to speak. "I plan to go for the long-term plan that works through build up to the Ranger's fall." He began to explain. "That is why I had Patented R.P.S."

"In Laymen's terms your making an organization that is supposed to be direct competition with a public service." Qrow snidely responded seeming to already understand Nefarious plan better than he was expecting.

"You little." The robotic mastermind was losing his temper. He eventually settled down showing footage of an operation taken only a few minutes ago. "To ensure compliance I've- "

"rigged her with some kind of virus or explosive that will detonate should I do anything that goes against your original plan. I should mention this is not my first mad scientist's spiel I've ever heard." Qrow concluded finally looking over at the snow white Lombax that was still asleep.

"Then you know what must be done." Nefarious grumbled angrily at the conscripted recruit.

"Yeah, yeah all I got to do is kill this kid, right?" He was going to hate himself for it, but it was all he could agree with.

"Good. Then get ready you have weapons to make." Nefarious cackled as he left the newly conformed soldier to his devices until they could establish a name.

 _ **Present**_

"Qrow you are going against protocol." Winter glared at the Lombax as he slowly prepped for his newly challenged opponent.

"Look at it this way Winter, if you are even still in there at this point." Qrows voice was always cynical and unphased by most things that happens to him granted this transformation has almost completely saved him from his once cursed Semblance. "The quicker I get this taken care of the quicker I get a chance to inert those devices in you then the quicker I can get him to reverse this mess then the sooner we can get back home." Even though he was saying this it seemed like he was well aware that he shouldn't trust a mad scientist to keep his word, it was rule nine of the secret agents codebook he was pretty sure.


	5. Ranger vs Hunter

Ratchet followed the Lombax mercenary into their training faculties. A very well-maintained canister that would at one point smelt space junk before shifting it to a refinery tankard to sort the metallic debris into multiple grades of metal. It was an impressive chamber with multiple plates on the inside built to with stand high concentrations of heat thanks to a ventilation system that used the vacuum of space to help cool the chamber's insulation. The inside though held several signs of makeshift patch work to keep any leaks from the continual usage. The faculty seemed to be showing its age. Fitting a second-hand mercenary group used an ancient smelting factory for their personal services.

"Alright kid." Qrow finally spoke up turning to his guest. "Since I challenged you, I guess I should leave the rules of engagement to you. Course to the death's off the table because we have a public image too keep." Ratchet flinched and froze in place cautiously at the off handed remark. He glanced to the window seeing Clank and Qwark sitting in the window next to a group of tourists excitedly waiting for the exhibition match.

"Oh, um how… Thoughtful." He wasn't sure how to respond to Qrow's reaction as he thought on it. "How about we keep to a simple ranged blaster and a melee. Sound like a good ruling?" The lombax shook his head as he raised his arms in the air seemingly uncaring. "Oh yeah, right, Perhaps to a knock out as well."

Qrow sighed still very indifferent to the real rules. "Seems fine to me." He walked over to a ring in the center of the room. Ratchet followed his step stopping on a white line while Qrow continued to one on the other side. "HEY WINTER!" he yelled up to the observation deck. "BBRING DOWN THE WEAPON RACK!"

Winter nodded as she began to tap a few buttons on a panel before a few drones approached from the ceiling holding a very well garrisoned rack of numerous firearms. Many of which Ratchet could recognize from the countless nights he had trained with them in the multiple missions he had embarked on as well as the continual problem of destroying the blasters after his journey trying to modify them to become more efficient. It was a mystery how he had not yet killed himself from his malfunctioning "improvements" as he liked to call them.

The Black but graying haired Lombax approached the weapons rack grabbing hold of a standard Omni-wrench from what Ratchet could tell. No different from the ones he uses to fix his ship with Clank. The one that gave him trouble was a silver blaster with two red tubes arching from an energy pack to the barrel of the pistole. When Qrow turned it on the blaster's barrel hummed a little as an orange looking light came from the tip of the barrel as well as its mid-section. A Megacorp Lancer, a nasty piece of hardware, perfect for a duel like this with the blast it leaves behind. Ratchet stood there cautiously as the Lombax lazily twirled the blaster on his finger waiting for Ratchet to choose his equipment. He steadily approached seeing all the weapons available.

The Rack held numerous fire arms including several variations of the Ryno line launchers. Though they were overkill for a bout like this. He looked down and noticed another pistol, a ranger standard issue blaster. "Well, if you have to fight go with what you are familiar with." He optimistically muttered to himself grabbing the blaster and holstering it. He began to walkway.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" The mercenary spoke up looking at him rather unamused.

"huh?" He noticed the wrench sitting beside him. "Oh right. I have one already that has served me well." He finally responded. He pulled it off his back showing it to the Lombax. It was a similar model to his meaning it looked unchanged to either of them despite its metal being stained a soot black from the combat it has seen.

Qrow shrugged still waiting very impatiently. "Makes no difference to me short stack."

"Uh, but we are close to the same size." Ratchet rebutted still cautious of him.

"Just get to your starting position." Talking was not something he wanted to do.

Ratchet nodded reluctantly and turned to get behind the hastily spray-painted line. Qrow nodded before he turned to Winter and nodded. Within seconds the center of the room began to elevate up higher into the chamber so that everyone could witness the fight from a more theatre view.

"You guys really go all in with this presentation stuff do you." Ratchet complimented looking over the audience.

"Pays when famous has-been decides to show up." He quipped as he took a combat pose ready for the match.

Ratchet Nodded cautiously looking at the crowd. "Remember you two this is only until the first one is K.O. and is unable to battle any longer. Any rule applies like an actual combat situation. Once the buzzer begins you are free to attack." Winter's voice came over the inter com to reclarify the settled parameters of their match. Her voice as dully robotic as anyone could make it much to Qrow's dismay and Ratchet's concern.

The sound of the Combat alarm went off with no remorse. Qrow began to run quickly to the left of the arena quickly blasting several bolts of pyrotechnic energy toward the Galactic Commando. Ratchet quickly jumped out of the way in search an opening in mercenary's run and gun tactics. Qrow kept firing surprisingly fast. Destroying the rims of the arena as he began to target Ratchet's feet. The gun began to glow a hot red leaving little to tell that the Lancer was starting to overheat.

Qrow kept his paste still blasting until the Lancer's auto coolant device force shut down the gun and vented a massive amount of steam blinding him for a split second. He felt a sting in his shoulder as a red beam flew from the left of his perception striking him again in his leg. His jaw tightens its connection to the upper half of his skull as his teeth gritted shrugging of the taser strike. He saw the young lombax charge straight at him forcing him to dodge left as Ratchet dropped his Omni-mace-like-wrench down sparking on the arena floor. He saw Ratchet's face seemed to be directly dedicated to the fight despite his reluctance. Qrow quickly grabbed his own Omni-wrench to parry the second strike with a resound ting as the two wrenches collided. He jumped back in surprised at the skilled close quarters combat the lombax has performed.

"You're really somethin' kid." Qrow spoke up as he looked down to notice that the Lancer was still in the middle of restarting. His tongue clicked annoyed that this piece of outdated hardware was taking forever. "Probably would make a great huntsman with your skill."

"Um, Thanks I guess." Ratchet's mind was confused at his small banter but even then Qrow could tell his guard was up. "I don't really know what that is."

"It's nothing special." He muttered reluctantly knowing either of his two nieces would be either cheering him on for the fight or barraging him for becoming a killer. This was something he had to do for Remnant's sake.

Ratchet shook his banter off as mindless rumblings and refocused on the fight quickly going in for another strike with the wrench. Qrow countered again catching the handle in between the crescent's valley. He turned it only to see that it would not disarm Ratchet no matter what force he applied.

"For a small fry you're certainly strong." He mused up close as he waited to see what his next move is.

"Well, I was trained to be a mechanic." Qrow's opponent responded somewhat confused at Qrow's small talk.

"Not really the talking type are you."

Ratchet looked at Qrow still confused. "Generally, the ones with the maniacal super plan just gloat never compliment the opponent." He finally responded.

"Somehow I know the feeling." Qrow's eyes glanced up at Winter who seemed to be barely paying any mind to the fight simply reading over notes from her tablet. "But is blocking and staying still all, you can do?"

"Well There is one thing I want to try." Ratchet spoke with a bit of a grin creeping crossover his face.

Qrow's eyebrow began to raise as the look on Ratchet's face appeared as if an idea came to his mind. "What's so funny?" He asked not sure what to expect.

He did not have time to react as Ratchet moved his foot upward kicking Qrow's Lancer into the air. He looked upward loosening the tension of Ratchet's wrench He looked to see the Commando jumping back from both his own wrench. Qrow went in for another strike as Ratchet backflipped away from him only for the blaster to force him to defend with the wrench.

Ratchet stuck the landing looking up at the still airborne lancer. He looked at Qrow and fired three other shots at Qrow causing him to stay where he was until he could catch the pistol by its grip.

"Nice move." Qrow muttered while in his mind he was cursing his Semblance still screwing hi over despite it's weakened state.

"I'll be honest." Ratchet spoke up still apparently high from thee adrenaline. "I did not expect that to work.

"Don't we always." Qrow quipped see that the Lancer's barrel was now glowing an all too familiar orange. Ratchet drew both pistols aiming at Qrow while Qrow kicked Ratchet's Wrench off the side of the arena. "So, it's a Knife to a gun fight situation. I've seen this dance number a few too many times."

"I guess that explains why you seem calm about the situation." He chirped fondly of his current odds. "Though I think this may be a little too calm."

"Eh, this old fighter has a few tricks up his sleeve." He began to take a defensive position watching Ratchet cautiously. The face of which was now engulfed in concern as he brought both pistols together waiting to see what Qrow would do.

Seizing the new opportunity Qrow slammed his wrench into the ground forcing some of the ground platform up barely in time to absorb the blow of the lancer. The blast made him fall back forcing him to adopt a stance that kept his knees bent and legs extended to maintain balance. He ran in closing the gap a secondary bolt was launched at him barely missing his ear. The heat from the bolt burned the tips of the fur as it whirled past him contacting the reinforced wall. He kept dashing until he was past Ratchets arm length blasters and went in for a right hook.

Ratchet was pushed back by the blow seeing the wrench coming at him in triplicate as his eyes readjusted from the concussive blow. Shaking the daze from his vision he moved left just in time for the wrench sliding past the tip of his nose. He pulled the blaster and aimed directly at Qrow's leg. The blaster however jammed from the safety being turned on from his rapid dodge in the fray. He panicked to repull the blasters safety switch to the active state and let loose a few shots to scare off the Lombaxian attacker.

Qrow however was not deterred by the blast until the third shot landed directly on his boot making his entire leg fall asleep. He jumped back feeling the tingling feeling in his leg looking at Ratchet. "Good kid, I see why they call you the best."

Ratchet however stared cautiously at Qrow's ominous grin. "Uh, I think I'm missing the joke here sir." His tone was trembling knowing there was more to this.

"It's because I have a bit of a secret for you." Ratchet took yet another defensive stance unsure of what he was referring to. "This is my wrench's secondary form." Slowly Qrow drew the wrench out. The lower end of the crescent wrench slowly closed in on the upper end before flipping into a hollowed compartment. The wrench then let loose a small amount of smoke as the tip of the wrench began to expand out ward and curve downward behind Qrow. The weight had to be counter adjusted as the hilt of the Omni-wrench swung down toward the end of the handle forming a trigger looking device as an energy core revealed itself on the hilt. The blades sharp end began to glow a light blue and let out an electronic hum. The weight was massive enough to require the user to wield it with both hands.

Ratchet froze almost dumbfounded at what he just witnessed. "Well, um, that's something you don't see every day."

"Like what I did with it, was always more comfortable with farming tools than mechanic stuff." Qrow taunted flaunting the configuration. Ratchet however stood there unsure what to think of the shifted weapon. He shook it off quickly blasting the lancer at the center of the new weapon's staff. The strike flew Qrow into a circle from the reaction from the blast. He regained his footing as he began to dash at Ratchet who began to fire multiple shots from both guns only missing by mere inches or striking the blade of the scythe.

"Come on, Come on, Come on, Come on…" He hastily muttered as Ratchet began to run from Qrow still firing both guns in his direction hoping to slow down his chase. It proved to be futile as Qrow finally caught ahead and tripped him with the new weapon.

Qrow approached picking up the lancer from the ground as Ratchet tried to regain his Barings. He placed the blade close to Ratchets neck. "Okay, okay you win." Ratchet spoke up finally putting his hands up. "Good match right." Qrow however remained ominously silent. "Uh Qrow, you okay?" Ratchet's voice now much weaker as Qrow's face darkened. The blade came closer to his neck.

"Qrow enough!" Winter's voice finally came out of the intercoms snapping Qrow's silent murderous intent away from his gaze. He looked down at Ratchet silent in surprise.

"Right, good match for a rookie. Had me go all out at the end there. Not bad kid." Even with that tone Ratchet could tell even in the silent malice he presented he was still thinking clearly as he was now. He hastily got up and gathered his wrench and left the arena.

"You okay Ratchet?" Clank asked as he meant him at the ship port. "You appeared to be in distress."

Ratchet turned and noticed Qwark was in the middle of handling press over his defeat. More than likely his image had been sullied by this. "Keep this between you and me. I think he was trying to kill me." Clank backed up when he heard that.

"That may explain the uneasy feeling I have been having." Clank concluded as he contemplated the new data.

"Uneasy feeling?" Ratchet looked at him confused.

"The increase in attacks from Thugs-4-less goons seem way to contrived to be coincidental. They were not striking anything of real value." Ratchet shrugged as Clank explained some data. "In addition to this RPS suddenly appears with a convenient protection program despite how understaffed they appear to be."

"They just opened shop a few months ago Clank." Ratchet pointed out the problem. "We saw their ad. They probably will be hiring soon." Clank nodded thinking on his thoughts before interjecting.

"True, however see this detail." He called forth a monitor that showed a map of the system. On the map multiple systems that have signaled to a distress call before RPS's grand reveal. Many of which were a few parsecs away from the RPS headquarters.

"You think they staged them self?" Ratchet mused at the new details Clank presented.

Clank shook his head. "There definitely is a correlation but there may be more to it." He tilted his head to the left looking over Winter in particular. "Mrs. Winter as she dubbed her self seems much more robotic compared to the fellow you sparred with."

"Robotic?" Ratchet


	6. A Little B' & E'

The base sat in earie silence. Not even space vermin stirred inside the RPS's halls.

Well it would have been silent had Ratchet not decided that crawling through old air vents was a smart method to infiltrate a base. The vents creaked and groaned with every step showing the base's true age.

"Perhaps we should have considered a more subtle approach." Clank started to suggest as he tailed behind him, his own feet adding to the noise like a pair of dense symbols colliding in a very acoustic chamber. Ratchet had to wear a set of ears plug because of the noise. "It's clear that they have not taken stock in renovating the base beyond basic function."

"Probably because they are new to it." Ratchet chirped up trying to give the group the benefit of the doubt. "It's the first time a company that is not connected to mega-corp has opened they probably don't know the full ropes yet."

Clank looked at the Lombax in disapproval. "The odds of that seem to border sixty-five hundred thousand three hundred and eighty-five point thirteen to one." Clank's voice did not seem amused to say the least.

Ratchet sighed knowing in the past that Clank has never been far off with his numbers even when they went undercover to bust a rigging of a popular gambling ring. "Look I know this was not my most thought out plan, but if your theory is right." He looked forward at the empty hallway. "We may have proof of why the Galactic Rangers are still needed."

"Ratchet." Clank spoke up as he slowly advanced without him. "The galaxy will always need people like the Galactic Rangers." He began to reason though the heroisms of one of Ratchet's idols seems to be blinding him from taking the operation at a much slower pace. A pace he was bound to make critical mistakes.

The main observation decks the two had traversed earlier that day held the same depressing atmosphere any abandoned building holds. The lack of an actual soul made it all the more unsettling to the point Ratchet pulled out his omni-wrench in case they were ambushed.

"I think they don't have security." Ratchet began to ponder as they approached a near by terminal. Hoisting Clank up to get a good view of both the monitor and the screen appeared to show current life support systems being measured. Let's see if you can find anything." He suggested as he began to stand guard.

Clank quickly started a hacking protocol examining the possible passcodes. "Let's see here" his eyes slowly monitored keyboard wear that seemed recent. "It looks as though the ones with frequent pattern wear are E, M, R, S, and U. It maybe possible that this is has to be the passcode."

"Good to hear. Can you please hurry?" Impatient but given the open environment Ratchet knew that they could easily be detected.

The first code Clank tried was EMURS. Resulting in a red flash saying, "Access Denied!" Not exactly a good start but it had a very large probability of being incorrect. He had to find a possible order, but the decay of the keyboard made him lucky to even spot this much. He then decided to see if he could course how many letters were in thee code. It was a hard thing to do but given the age of the facility it was a possible angle to attack the password from.

"Any luck yet?" Ratchet chimed in hearing the creaking of the base had started to put him on edge. Everything sounded like footsteps coming toward them.

"Not yet, I was not exactly programed for this." He responded running a program he had developed with the Galactic Rangers to decipher some of Nefarious' data logs he had back at the HQ. It appeared that the code was six lettered. One of the letters was used twice. It was a matter of finding the twined letter now.

"Anytime now." Stress came from Ratchets voice.

"Almost got it." Clank remarked running through possible combinations. He stopped at one option that could work. "Let's try this one." Entering in S-U-M-M-E-R into the password code to see the box flash green before giving out multiple different windows to view. "We're in. It was much simpler than I anticipated." He chuckled to himself as he jumped onto Ratchet's Back for him to begin scanning the documents.

"Alright let's see what this gives us." He grinned plotting his finger onto the night logs. It looked to be filled with numerous holologs for personal use. He went to open one of them to see that it seemed to not be encrypted though the date tag was corrupted. He clicked on it to see how it would react.

The hololog opened up to the Lombax Qrow who was leaning depressed in a chair in the same room they currently were in. Unamused and chugging away at something in a flask. "That tastes like home." He muttered before looking at the screen. "Day… I don't even know anymore. Finally got the attention of the "Target" some kid that seems to get on the bad man's side." He shook his head "and here I thought stories of pure evil being thwarted by children only came in fairytales. Tried to finish him off in the arena already, the way I see it the sooner I finish this job the quicker I can start looking for Oz; wherever he's at."

Ratchet looked at Clank before looking back toward the hololog. "It seems like This maybe a simple match sure I don't get my aura, but it seems a trace of my semblance survived the doc's experiment. Honestly, I'm just hoping that this little trick of his is reversable." Qrow grumbled more so as he looked toward the vents. "Looks like I got company coming. If you're the one watching this, I'm in the arena. Don't keep me waiting." Ratchet looked over to see the same combat silo he was in earlier had the neon lights lite.

Clank looked toward the lights and ran over curious to see. The moment he poked his head out a red puff from an incinerator blasted at him with the forcefield taking the full brunt of the attack. "Can we get this over with already?" Qrow's echo could be heard from the terminal as Ratchet walked over himself. He stood dead center of the arena aiming the gun directly at their location.

"Clank…" Ratchet Finally spoke up. "I'm starting to think this was a bad idea.


End file.
